As is well known, a loudspeaker receives an electrical signal representing an audio sound, and converts the electrical signal to an audio sound wave via a loudspeaker driver unit. The driver unit comprises, in part, a motor that responds to the electrical signal to move a diaphragm. The movement of the diaphragm perturbs the surrounding air, which causes the audio wave.
Due to inadequate low-frequency characteristics, many loudspeakers do not respond well to input signals of very low frequencies (i.e., the bass or lower register). Thus, a high quality audio system may include a separate, specialized speaker, termed a subwoofer, which is designed to more accurately reproduce the lower frequencies of the full sound spectrum. In some instances, a subwoofer is used in conjunction with a crossover. The crossover separates, with respect to a (usually user-definable) crossover frequency, the full sound spectrum into low-frequency components (i.e., those signals that are below a crossover frequency) and high-frequency components (i.e., those signals that are above a crossover frequency). The crossover then directs the low-frequency components to the subwoofer and the high-frequency components to the main speaker. The crossover's high-pass response is intended to complement the low-pass response characteristics of the subwoofer, hence, achieving a desirable blending of the sonic output of the main speaker and the subwoofer. Although the use of a crossover-subwoofer system provides improved sound quality, further improvements are desired.